Cave-In-Rock State Park is just a bit up the Ohio River from the town of Cave-In-Rock, Illinois. The town is small, but has an eating place or two and is at one end of a small ferry that crosses the river to Kentucky. Ye Olde Photographer and his Faire Spouse spent most of a day in the park checking it out and photographing the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017. Considering all the things that could have gone wrong, it was a pretty successful outing.

The park has a restaurant, rental cabins, camping and some nice picnic facilities. The land is mostly wooded and well above the river, offering some breeze and nice views. While we were there we saw a Bald Eagle perched on tree, looking over the river. With a fair number (hundreds? not thousands!) of eclipse viewers there for this particular day, we met some interesting people and had quite an enjoyable day.

We ended the day by walking down and checking out the river shoreline and the cave from which the name comes. It is reputed that bad guys hung out in the cave in the late 1700s and early 1800s, but apparently that is somewhat suspect. The cave has a quite large opening in the limestone cliffs facing the Ohio River.

This stop was an essential part of our Eclipse Ramble 2017.